IFSRS, Karamana - Krishi Arivukal XX: "Double sucker planting in Banana"

Among the different farming systems of Kerala, banana based farming system is a popular one. In banana, high density planting of two suckers per pit is a highly successful technology and became more popular among the farmers now. Accommodation of more number of plants per unit area increases the productivity of the system. In double sucker planting at a spacing of 3 m x 2 m, the total number of plants is 3332 in 1666 pits as against 2500 plants in normal planting at a spacing of 2 m x 2 m. The nutrient requirement of double sucker planting is 133 % of normal planting. The wider inter row spacing in double sucker planting accommodate more intercrops than the conventional system. By double sucker planting, significant reduction in labour, fertilizers and staking cost, thereby increase in productivity and profitability of the system. Thus double sucker planting increases the yield and reduces the yield gap in banana based farming system